If stupid were to burn, that would be a conflagration ... and just another day on DU.
LPC Noob FreshStart1 seems not to have heard of this website called Yelp (or maybe (s)he just uses Yelp to post phony attack-reviews of businesses (s)he hates and doesn't realize most people post honest reviews). Then there's email, and comment functions on company websites.
Eko (3,756 posts)
6. One of the main reasons that retail sucks is because of online sales.
Like Ebay and amazon. Ive been working in retail since 2002, and before the online giants came along we all made good money.
Oy, such ignorance! Retail models have been evolving since Cain fleeced his family. A century ago A & P was hurting single-owner specialty stores with stores that offered a full range of food products and using their buying power to get better prices from manufacturers. 30-40 years later, supermarket chains started eating A & P's lunch through even larger stores stocking more than just food.
Yeah, along came Walmart ... which was hurt for a while by Amazon, until they included online sales with local pick-up in their business model. Walmart responded to new sales models by adjusting their own, unlike retailers like:
* Borders Books - late in responding to Amazon's Kindle; B & N did better and is hanging on;
* Radio Shack - failed to create a new marketplace for itself when hobby electronics tinkerers dwindled away;
* J. C. Penney and Sears - late in getting into online sales, failed to follow trends in products sold; CRAPPY customer experience.
Mom & Pop can't compete head-to-head with Amazon or Walmart or ... . But if they offer unique, desired products the giants can't/won't, with excellent customer experience, Mom & Pop will thrive. DUpipo look to government to save Mom & Pop, and that would, at most, prolong the going out of business process of those who refuse to be creative and flexible.